Two Miami women arrested for alleged staged accident

A plague of insurance fraud, Southern Florida has been experiencing in recent years. And the problem even today does not seem to get any better. In connection with an assumed dramatic accident scam, two Miami women were recently arrested. This has been announced by Jeff Atwater – Florida Chief Financial Officer.

Authorities arrested Rebeca Fara Velazco which is 61 years old and her daughter Daisy Sarmiento which is 41 years old. They charged them with PIP insurance fraud, grand theft, racketeering, organized scheme to defraud, patient brokering and operating an unlicensed clinic. This is according to Atwater’s office. Despite attempts to reach them at home and work numbers listed for them, the women could not be reached.

According to Johnbales.com, PIP or personal injury protection, regardless of which driver is at fault, personal injury protection pays medical billsfor policyholders injured in auto accidents. Florida drivers are required to carry ten thousand dollars worth of coverage. There is a heated debate going on right now over whether the ten thousand dollars limit is leading to the massive fraud occurring in the state.

More than a three dozen arrests of a clinic owner, doctors, staged accident recruiters, clinic employees have been made as part of a state personal injury protection sting which is called Operation Dark Horizon. Atwater said in a statement that these phonies are driving up auto insurance premiums for honest people of Florida. He also

said that when they got caught they are going to have a hard time.

The Florida Consumer Action Network exposed a recent study to find flaws in data used by state leaders to push legislation to fight personal injury protection fraud. Supporting the idea of beefing up anti-fraud prosecutors was announced by the group’s executive director, suggests doing a cost-benefit analysis to see if it makes logic or if taxpayers are better off supporting other forms of crime, because the state doesn’t have the money for it.

The Department of Financial Service, the state agency Atwater oversees, has forty seven full-time employees dedicated to personal injury protection squads, costing about four million dollars, from side to side its Division of Insurance Fraud. Complaints and tips that are investigated come from insurers, attorneys, policyholders and others.

Another division within the Department of Financial Services that holds insurance consumer complaints has around fifty specialists that answer insurance questions and almost two-thirds of the calls they take are on auto insurance issues and homeowner. According to the department, that works out to about one point five million that goes

to helping those consumers.

Car accident can damage more than your car. Lost wages, medical bills and other expenses can be added up quickly and it can also put a serious dent into your bank account. Known as PIP insurance, personal injury protection such as the one provided by these st. petersburg auto accident attorneyscan help you to discharge that costs and it can help you to protect your family and your friends after a covered accident. It is always better to protect yourself.